Hedge Funds Are Buying Advantage Oil & Gas Ltd (USA) (AAV)

Advantage Oil & Gas Ltd (USA) (NYSE:AAV) was in 5 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the fourth quarter of 2012. AAV has experienced an increase in support from the world’s most elite money managers lately. There were 3 hedge funds in our database with AAV positions at the end of the previous quarter.

Advantage Oil & Gas Ltd (USA) (NYSE:AAV)

In today’s marketplace, there are a multitude of metrics shareholders can use to track stocks. Two of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top investment managers can beat their index-focused peers by a healthy margin (see just how much).

Equally as integral, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the financial markets. Obviously, there are many motivations for an upper level exec to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would buy. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this method if you understand where to look (learn more here).

Consequently, we’re going to take a glance at the recent action surrounding Advantage Oil & Gas Ltd (USA) (NYSE:AAV).

How have hedgies been trading Advantage Oil & Gas Ltd (USA) (NYSE:AAV)?

Heading into 2013, a total of 5 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 67% from one quarter earlier. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a select group of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes significantly.

According to our comprehensive database, Daruma Asset Management, managed by Mariko Gordon, holds the most valuable position in Advantage Oil & Gas Ltd (USA) (NYSE:AAV). Daruma Asset Management has a $16.5 million position in the stock, comprising 1% of its 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Ranjan Tandon of Libra Advisors, with a $5.4 million position; 3.2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other hedgies with similar optimism include Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors, Alec Litowitz and Ross Laser’s Magnetar Capital and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.

As aggregate interest increased, key money managers have jumped into Advantage Oil & Gas Ltd (USA) (NYSE:AAV) headfirst. SAC Capital Advisors, managed by Steven Cohen, created the most outsized position in Advantage Oil & Gas Ltd (USA) (NYSE:AAV). SAC Capital Advisors had 3.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Alec Litowitz and Ross Laser’s Magnetar Capital also initiated a $0.8 million position during the quarter.

How have insiders been trading Advantage Oil & Gas Ltd (USA) (NYSE:AAV)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is most useful when the company in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest six-month time period, Advantage Oil & Gas Ltd (USA) (NYSE:AAV) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also take a look at hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Advantage Oil & Gas Ltd (USA) (NYSE:AAV). These stocks are Pioneer Energy Services Corp (NYSE:PES), Vantage Drilling Company (NYSEAMEX:VTG), Bellatrix Exploration Ltd Ordinary Shares (Canada) (NYSEAMEX:BXE), Magnum Hunter Resources Corp (NYSE:MHR), and SandRidge Mississippian Trust II (NYSE:SDR). This group of stocks belong to the oil & gas drilling & exploration industry and their market caps are closest to AAV’s market cap.

#N/A

Company Name # of Hedge Funds # of Insiders Buying # of Insiders Selling
Pioneer Energy Services Corp (NYSE:PES) 8 1 0
Vantage Drilling Company (NYSEAMEX:VTG) 9 0 1
Bellatrix Exploration Ltd Ordinary Shares (Canada) (NYSEAMEX:BXE) 4 0 0
Magnum Hunter Resources Corp (NYSE:MHR) 6 2 3
SandRidge Mississippian Trust II (NYSE:SDR) 0 0

With the results exhibited by Insider Monkey’s studies, everyday investors should always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading activity, and Advantage Oil & Gas Ltd (USA) (NYSE:AAV) is no exception.

Click here to learn why you should track hedge funds